The invention relates to an apparatus for the simultaneous filling of a liquid, gaseous or solid flowable medium into several containers, such as tanks, drums, packs, etc., comprising a pipe system with a feed pump for supplying the medium and with valves connected by supply lines for the containers.
Known systems for the filling of liquid, gaseous or flowable material are constructed in such a way that, even in the case of simultaneous filling of several containers, the quantity of material necessary for each container is individually set. Consequently, such a filling system requires a number of devices corresponding to the number of individual containers, enabling the volume or weight of each container to be measured and monitored.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,891 discloses an installation for the simultaneous filling of several containers, but using metering and filling devices in a number corresponding to the number of containers, an individual device being associated with each container. The pipe connections of the devices permit the filling of individual coontainers in accordance with the volume. However, in this installation, the volume or weight of each single container is not measured and monitored, and thus the filling of all the containers is controlled on the basis of the monitoring of a single container.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,205,920 relates to a mechanism in which the association of a volume chamber and the coupling of the valve operation are provided.
In the apparatus according to Swiss Pat. No. 174,324, a weight-dependent control member is provided, which functions in such a way that the further supply of the medium is interrupted when the weight that has been predetermined for each container is reached. However, this apparatus does not provide for the control of a plurality of valves by means of a single weight-controlled device.
The present invention solves the problem of providing a calibratable system, with which several containers can be simultaneously filled and in which only the volume or weight of a single container need be measured and monitored. Thus a simple, economic system is obtained, whose working capacity can be increased in a simple manner at any time, without involving great technical effort and expenditure.
The invention also solves the problem of providing a calibratable system enabling several containers to be simultaneously filled, it only being necessary to measure the volume or weight of one container which can be used for controlling the inflow of further medium, so as to control the volume or weight for the other containers by means of comparative measurements of flow quantities, so that a simple, economic system with a high working capacity is obtained, without involving great technical expenditure and effort. It is merely necessary to compare the flow rates to the individual containers with a stored desired value and on the basis thereof to carry out the control of the further medium inflow quantity. This system can be housed in several zones, if a single available zone is unable to receive the complete apparatus with the numerous emptying stations.